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I was just thinking the other day, the Huniverse has never had that comic staple: a good old alien invasion! The closest it has come is Deuce, or Saroth AFAIK.

It seems to me that a traditional full-fledged alien invasion is fairly unlikely - any race sufficiently advanced to invade (a) probably wouldn't need to, and (b) would probably be too overwhelming for HU Earth.

My idea goes something like:

Earth is invaded by small squads of aliens (say one or two dozen troops per squad) with advanced weapons, equipment and vehicles. One, maybe two squads descend on each of several cities around the world.

Earth's militaries fight back but are badly outmatched. This would be a great storyline to involve lots of HA supporting characters such as The Bujin, Shadowfox, Kaine, etc. I hope I might even have some of my own to throw into the fray by then. Even some of the villains would probably chip in - it's their planet too, after all, and some of them would like to rule it one day. :) Others would probably be more opportunist, though.

Despite fighting valiantly, Earth's defenders are being overwhelmed when the invaders just up and leave, leaving mass devastation behind them.

It's only as the aliens retreat that an appropriate hero (probably Exocet or Relik) recognises the species and works out what's going on: this species is in an ongoing, centuries-old war with another alien empire.

This particular fleet has a lot of raw recruits and their Admiral has decided they needed at least a little combat experience before facing the enemy, so he spun by the nearest primitive world for some minimally threatening target practice.

Should be fairly sobering for our heroes, realising they (and Earth as a whole) have had their posteriors handed to them by a handful of novices on a training exercise.

It's kind of a downer ending so maybe better suited for Season 2 which I understand will be darker overall (though hopefully with some lighter stories too, for balance)?

Well, the first issue of the Heroes Unite reboot mentioned an alien invasion as happening between Energize: Hunted and that issue. And that first story deals with extra-dimensional invaders, which is similar.

I don't really see the current HU story arc as being similar to my suggestion. It's localised to New Rosscoe City rather than global, and appears to be demonic rather than extraterrestrial in nature.That one throwaway line in HU1.16 (“First we had the whole Black Dawn fiasco, then the invasion…”) is interesting. It could be referring to an alien invasion or something else entirely. It's possibly even deliberately vague just to suggest the world hasn't been standing still since Energize: Hunted.Anyway, it was a thought…

shastab24 wrote:Well, the first issue of the Heroes Unite reboot mentioned an alien invasion as happening between Energize: Hunted and that issue. And that first story deals with extra-dimensional invaders, which is similar.

IF my original plans had come to light, the reference to an invasion was going to be the return of the blue aliens from the original “Heroes Unite”. This would have occured in a one shot called Energize: Stormfront. I started the comic and then ended scrapped it.Alien invasion stories are always cool, and your suggestion above sounds good. Im not really on the Duck anymore but just thought i would fill in that blank.

I've got an idea of how to finish Stormfront, by the way. Nepath had said he wouldn't mind it being finished as a Heroes Alliance story. I never thought of the aliens, though. Thing is, I don't want the pages already committed to go to waste (because good art shouldn't be wasted). I'm trying to hash out all the logistics in my head, though, and find time to write it.

Since HA #9 is in production and the script for #10 is complete, I think it's time we talk about this a bit more. Ironhand and I have been talking about having #11 and 12 be the “season finale” (of course, with HA being a webcomic, this is an arbitrary decision, but I think it helps to highlight certain points and give some narrative and dramatic weight and structure), and to have it be about an alien invasion.

Our original plans were quite different from what irrevenant proposed in his initial post in this thread. However, the story kept being revised, and one of the core ideas may now be no longer viable (if I'm wrong, please correct me on this, ironhand - you might know what I'm talking about, and it's your call whether to divulge this here or not). What I found important was that the story would advance some of the central conflicts within HA and between HA and RISE, and to have some character development related to the main players of this central conflict. And I kept thinking about this, and thinking and thinking – how would the alien invasion play into this? What sort of aliens could we bring in which would highlight what we need to accomplish with our main characters? And - surprise - I pretty much ended up with what irrevenant proposed. Of course, at that point, I had already forgotten that he had proposed it in the first place :p

But I suggest that for dramatic tension, we change things a bit. One change would be more of a shift: Instead of having the aliens use earth and its population as “practice”, I want their motive to really BE ABOUT earth, and more specifically, about HA. The first idea Ironhand and I had considered was that it should be about their wanting to possess the Energize. But now I think that this would distract from what HA currently is. So, my second idea is this: If CLAW created Amalgam - one of the most powerful heroes alive - by merely joining seven heroes, couldn't the same tech be used to join many more, and do the brainwashing right this time? The aliens need a powerful warrior. They will go after the Amalgam tech and after earth's heroes, to use the former on the latter.

The second change: EGO is helping them. Because the aliens are an advanced species, but they need support to win their alien civil war (I always have to think of the Skrull/Kree war here :p). Logic dictates that they should survive, and that EGO, with his tactical knowledge, should help them. I have also thought about how EGO would have changed. I am going to post some more about this shortly.

One thing I would say in relation to the Amalgam thing is that it sort of takes the scary factor of CLAW, and the “amalging” project they had could return in season 2 (hint hint) - I always wanted to establish them as a Hydra type, so I'd prefer it if aliens sort of didn't do the same thing.The main thing that I would personally like to get out of this is a few answers as to why the aliens are here (the civil war, for example) - but enough questions that the season ends with a whole new “segment” of the universe we can explore - perhaps taking some of the heroes out of Earth for an issue or two next season would be cool. Of course, explain their motives for coming to Earth but open up a whole new corner somehow. I think what is pretty hard about these two issues is that we want to keep a lot of things a secret so it really is a big surprise when you're reading the script/issue and not give things away here. I'd say what we should talk about here, mainly, should be the aliens and their motives. That seems to be the main thing we're struggling to fit in at the minute.

Thank you for the credit but it's not much like my original idea either anymore. Mine was very much a deconstruction of the superhero alien invasion story where, instead of a band of plucky heroes fighting off an invading armada, Earth is indifferently brushed by the minor edges of an alien conflict and Earth's mightiest heroes come to realise how fragile they (and Earth) are on a galactic scale.

The aliens barely considering Earth “collateral damage” in a larger conflict (if they consider it at all) was key to reinforcing that realisation that HA are just ‘big fish in a small pond’ on the larger scale. I'm sure it'll be a great story, but once you make the invasion about Earth, it's a completely different one.

If you do a large scale invasion, I'd really like to get Chaos and some of his supporting cast involved. It'd be a great opportunity to showcase the broader HU. We could check in on how Kaleidoscop 2 is going nowadays, too…

If you do go something like the Amalgamtech idea, my comic has (will have) a third party that's interested in collecting all sorts of ultra technology (I actually plan for them to have obtained some nifty stuff from CLAW off the books already). So if you wanted to muddy the waters by having multiple parties working at cross-purposes, I'm happy to throw them into the mix, too. :)

I personally like to think of EGO as off exploring the universe, seeking enlightenment after his talk with the Blue Beacon, maybe upgrading himself with alien technology along the way ala V'ger. I actually think he would be better resolved for future storyline - one that takes HA to the stars.

With regards to the aliens' motives, my first thought was a police action: Some alien Bin Laden is hiding out on Earth and if we won't hand him over, they're willing to come in and use force. Problem is, both Energize and Relik did that storyline already. :/

So, my second thought is: Flip it around - it's not alien armies or authorities invading - it's alien *criminals*. Haven't quite figured out exactly what they want from Earth yet, but there's a lot of potential to an alien Mafia, Yakuza or even street-gang-style alien thugs wanting to make our planet part of their turf…

I like this! Throwing some aliensin could be fun. And I do really like irrevenant's idea about the earth being used as a sort of short term trainingsite, then leaving everyone completely confused,lol. I like ita great deal actually. But if that's not the way to go, and you want something directly related to earth that could involve these super beings and the different factions, I have a vague idea.I totally just stolethis from an old Wonder Woman episode, But the idea is ripe to mold into our own.What if the aliens that come to earth are some intergalactic god-race, or superrace. like sureme beings and instead of unleashing hordes to fight, because that's been bit of a recurring theme lately, maybe they don't attack outright, but they come to cast judgement. they observe our factions and try to decide whether the world is worthy to continue evolution or unworthy. Shit, I guess it's been done before. bu tI thought this might be interesting as a means to highlight some tensions that may arise. Maybe they're real fuckers too. Like mad scientist types. like oneof their methods could be they bring with them several other alien tpyes of peoples, ranginginpersonalityandviciousnessand whatnot and try to see if they and the super humanscan manage to coexist. Almost like a really—OH MY GOD, LETS MAKE IT A FORCED ALIEN-MEETS ALIEN REALITY SHOW!!! hhmmpphhh!!!hahahaha! the all powerful beings are like intergalactic tv producers and they stir all this shit up by trying to smoosh alienraces together and see what happens!hahahaha!I know it's what I would do if I was anall powerful being, i'd just piss off everyone and this is how.

I suspect for the season finale we're looking for something with a bit more gravitas, but can we slot that story into Season 2 somewhere? It'd be epic. :D

BTW, what is the distinct we're making with an ‘issue’ of HA? The initial Heroes Alliance arc was two issues of around 20 pages each. The ‘Shinobi’ issue was as long as both put together and ‘What you believe’ is half as long again (ie another 20 pages). Is it purely a matter of it being it being initially planned as ‘a story in two parts’? What makes this a two issue story rather than a long one issue one?

It's going to be a two parter mainly because there's a hell of a lot going on. There'll be the aliens, RISE, and also a few others things we'll be getting into throughout them, and we really want to show them and how dire the situation it is. There's a lot of loose ends and fights we want to show.I quite like the idea of two warring aliens and Earth sort of being caught in the middle (because the HA shoving them both off the planet would be awesome) - but it just doesn't feel that personal to the HA. I think the aliens need to be attacking Earth, not fighting over it. I also like the idea of the “evil” aliens.What if we sort of introduced a form of “space-pirates” in a way? Perhaps TY from HU could make a return? These guys could be after some kind of energy from the Earth and so the fight/global attack begins. Of course this then sets up a pretty big cosmic villain, and also opens up the idea for the HA to take to space. As I type, my mind is ringing with a hell load of ideas I'll have shoot over to abt soon.

I think it's worth taking a step back here and asking ourselves what sort of mood we want for this story. What sort of tone do we want to set in these two issues to lay the groundwork for the upcoming Series 2?

ironhand: I'm not saying the aliens would actually use the amalgam tech, only that they could be after it. But even if - if we had CLAW reappear, would we have them use the amalgam tech again? Seems to me like CLAW could do something new next time.

irrevenant: (1) Yes, what I proposed would be quite different in tone and resolution. What I thought of as similar was that earth (& HA) was being used as a means to an end in an alien war. I just feel that for a proper season finale, we really need to make it about HA and have a different kind of resolution. (2) The thing with EGO is, I think if we bring him back we need him to have a motivation that creates conflict. What I was thinking of is true to his character, but gives him an agenda. (3) Planning it in two parts is just for narrative structure. Also, in my mind, length does not directly reflect dramatic impact, but two-parters lend themselves to pilots, season finales and the like. You can also more clearly structure set-up and pay-off.

AzuJOD: That's actually an option ironhand and I discussed (and ironhand could probably probably say more about the whys and hows). My own opinion is that if Stormfront were to be the big bad guy in this story, the writing would suddenly turn into the task of having to do justice to the character, and this might dwarf much of the rest (i.e. character development of HA and RISE). I think we have writers who could do that, it's just that I personally wouldn't want do it :p That was one reason why I said, let's do it in two parts - I'd write a first part dealing with HA and RISE, and then we could do the clash of titans in the second part (and I would pretty much withdraw from the latter).

abt: I emailed you the rundown for what I had in mind for the whole story, and I truly believe that ties alot of things together as well as resolving issues and creating new ones. Let me know what you think, but I think it seems to be sculpting really well and seems to pull on all the main aspects of the first season and in the end sets up the tone for season 2.Regarding the Amalgamation stuff, I think CLAW will probably move on to other stuff, but will still dabble in the good stuff and try to improve it. But yeah, I want to work on making CLAW be one of the “big bads” to the HA, which archnemesis/recurring villains is something the HA needs - so of course they'll have a hell of a lot more stuff under their sleeve than just the amalging project.

irrevenant wrote:I think it's worth taking a step back here and asking ourselves what sort of mood we want for this story. What sort of tone do we want to set in these two issues to lay the groundwork for the upcoming Series 2?

Yes, figuring this out is what matters most. As ironhand said, the alien invasion angle is what we have most freedom with, whereas much of the rest of what we have to figure out pretty much follows from it being a season finale (and yeah, we'll try to keep one or two secrets ;-D ). That is, it needs to properly tie up some loose ends, and I'd rather the alien invasion would serve as a means to tell a story which is about HA. It's shouldn't be a complicated thing with many new characters appearing, because we can't afford to have the season finale be about a host of new characters. As far as I'm concerned, whatever characters the story is about, it's about the HA team.

That's the first thing. The aliens are a threat that serves as a catalyst, bringing out some existing tensions on the team, and between HA and RISE.

One of my thoughts behind introducing RISE is that they're an anti-HA - not just because the team is made up of shady characters and villains, but because they're politically sanctioned and HA is not. RISE are irresponsible, Macchiavellian, with a “the end justifies the means” mindset. But they probably have FOX News behind them :p (And at the end of #9, it will also become clear that they have a trump card in dealing with HA.) HA on the other hand have no political ties, and would potentially be viewed as a threat to public security wherever they appear, but their only goal is to help where they're needed. So, that's the tension between HA and RISE, and it would become apparent when dealing with this threat.

But HA also has an internal conflict brewing, so the season finale will also be about that and about the hints about Bombshell's ulterior motives in previous chapters. She's always stressed that she's built HA on trust - but can she be trusted? Should she?

Also, I'd like to remind readers who's on the team, who these characters are and where they're coming from. Ideally, we'd have all hero characters from the first season make at least a brief appearance, and mirror the pilot a bit. Maybe have several small teams of three people each, have them interact a bit. Have Comet Kid and Vora say something… it feels too long to me since Vora has said something :p

Lastly, as far as the tone is concerned, I don't think we should worry too much about season 2, because setting the tone for season 2 is something the next pilot can do. What I think is important is to give season 1 a worthy send-off. Season 1 was characterized by some subliminal tension, so we'll have some of it erupt.

Abt_Nihil wrote:The thing with EGO is, I think if we bring him back we need him to have a motivation that creates conflict. What I was thinking of is true to his character, but gives him an agenda.

I totally agree, except for that bit about it being true to EGO's character. I can't see EGO being in a hurry to return to violence. I also don't believe he'd be willing to work for someone else after fighting so hard for his independence.

He'd have to be coerced into it somehow, and I'd like to see him fight free of that coercion by the end of the story.

Abt_Nihil wrote:My own opinion is that if Stormfront were to be the big bad guy in this story, the writing would suddenly turn into the task of having to do justice to the character, and this might dwarf much of the rest (i.e. character development of HA and RISE).

That's the same issue I have with EGO. It's very hard to do his story justice amongst all the excitement of an alien invasion without tipping too far the other way and overpowering the invasion plot.

If the focus is to be on HA, I'd suggest a race that hasn't been seen in the HUniverse before. Existing races like the Evosians or Relik's people would need to be explored more in their own right which would probably distract from the impact on HU.

If that's the focus let's keep it large scale and overwhelming but simple: Meteors crash out of the sky and start spewing forth self-replicating destroyer robots (or alternately the biological equivalent).

Maybe it's a military attack, maybe it's just how that species propagates itself across the stars. Either way it's a major problem.

Visually I think they should be hulking and monstrous.

A lot of these questions are intertwined though: The best sort of aliens to use would depend on what specifically you want to explore about HA. Some sort of psychological attack might be a better tack to take.

Even the aliens appearance would depend on their nature which would depend on their narrative purpose. It's hard to come up with something appropriate when so many key details have to be kept secret.

I totally agree, except for that bit about it being true to EGO's character. I can't see EGO being in a hurry to return to violence. I also don't believe he'd be willing to work for someone else after fighting so hard for his independence.He'd have to be coerced into it somehow, and I'd like to see him fight free of that coercion by the end of the story.

I think we are in complete agreement on that. EGO would only participate if he was convinced that his intervention is dictated by reason. Still, we should not disregard that he is a military tool at his core.

Ugh, it's pretty unnerving how quoting someone is bound to mess up the format :I In my previous post, my reply is in the “quote box” and what I meant to quote isn't @_@

irrevenant wrote:A lot of these questions are intertwined though: The best sort of aliens to use would depend on what specifically you want to explore about HA. Some sort of psychological attack might be a better tack to take. Even the aliens appearance would depend on their nature which would depend on their narrative purpose. It's hard to come up with something appropriate when so many key details have to be kept secret.

Yes, the psychological angle is very important. I have some ideas, and I'd like to do some character sheets for the aliens - sadly, I don't have the time at the moment. So, for now, words will have to do. I initially started with the idea that we'd have some aliens who are tied to earth's past. What I think would be visually and psychologically interesting is to have beings who were seen as gods by the ancient southern American civilizations. Like… the El Dorado myth. This angle has been done with some other cultures (like the egyptians - I think that was the angle used on the Hawkman mythology), but I'm not aware of any Southern American deity aliens. They would be elegant, visually striking, and have some interesting mythological (and thus psychological) reverberation. And, of course, they'd be somewhat godlike. The may have different castes - maybe brutes as workers and soldiers.

I really like the idea of it being space-pirates and criminals, personally. By space pirates, I mean they steal stuff - not have eye-patches etc. These guys set up a future villain and also open up the rest of the universe, without having to create a whole new alien race with a big past. Of course, these will have a past and motivation, but enough that could be covered well. These guys would be brutal and wouldn't care for life.And, we'd also have an “in”to these guys, as we could put Ty from Heroes Unite in as one of the generals or something.

With Egyptian Gods it was probably most famously done by Stargate. I like the idea of basing it off Aztec/Incan/Mayan myth for a change. What were you thinking with regard to character sheets? I'd be interested in knocking up some preliminary alien designs.

The race you're describing don't sound like they'd fit in well with the space pirate idea. They sound more like the type who feel like they're the rightful rulers of earth. Food for thought: Why exactly did they have the Aztecs sacrifice people to them?

EDIT: Looks like Marvel's Thor has featured the Inca pantheon, but we can easily put our own spin on it. At this point I'm thinking that they're probably a coalition of races, each equating to one or more of the ancient gods and to the castes you mentioned.

Abt_Nihil wrote:So, for now, words will have to do. I initially started with the idea that we'd have some aliens who are tied to earth's past. What I think would be visually and psychologically interesting is to have beings who were seen as gods by the ancient southern American civilizations. Like… the El Dorado myth. This angle has been done with some other cultures (like the egyptians - I think that was the angle used on the Hawkman mythology), but I'm not aware of any Southern American deity aliens. They would be elegant, visually striking, and have some interesting mythological (and thus psychological) reverberation. And, of course, they'd be somewhat godlike. The may have different castes - maybe brutes as workers and soldiers.

If we're going with Aztec/Inca/Mayan influenced aliens, then maybe we can have them look like jaguar people! Aztecs considered Jaguars the king of the beasts. They could have facial markings that look like the face paint used by those culture, and they could perform ritual sacrifices to fuel their blood magic.

Oooh, there's an idea for their motivation for invading Earth; they want to sacrifice the population to gain a huge amount of power.

As is the sacrificing people for power thing. For some reason, comics universes typically have both magic users and technologically-advanced aliens, but never the twain shall meet. If you're in a setting where magic works, it just makes sense that humans wouldn't be the only ones to use it…

EDIT: Okay, here's what I have so far:

Millenia ago, two separate federations - the Anu and the Teotl were at war. After many centuries of indecisive conflict they merged into a larger, if somewhat uneasy, federation. (Their withdrawal from Earth was part of the peace treaty since both parties wanted it). Their society is fairly heavily caste-based but exceptional individuals may sometimes change castes.

The member races are:The Viracocha (Anu) - The prior Anu ruling class, the Viracocha are highly advanced technologically and value civilisation and diplomacy. Their preference is to simply absorb ‘lesser’ races into the federation under a sort of ‘patronage’. Degree of willingness varies - some races are quite happy with the benefits of Anu patronage.The Supay (Anu) - A naturally predatory race who see life in death and vice versa. They make both superb doctors and brutal executioners - often in the same individual.Inti (Anu) - The Inti are plasma beings. I haven't quite figured out how they fit in yet.

Huitzilopochtli (Teotl) - The historical ruling class of the Teotl, the Huitzilopochtli are far more warlike than the Viracocha and more inclined to rule through force and cruelty.Chalchiuhtlicue (Teotl) - An aquatic race with jade tendrils who are powerful magicians. (These are probably the ones who want people to sacrifice for power).Quetzalcoatl (Teotl) - The famous feathered serpent race. Despite their fearsome appearance they are likelier to be seen as scientists, biologists and agriculturalists than warriors.

There are also various other races in the collective who lack full citizenship (varying from outright slavery to more of a serf/bondsman setup):Tepeyollotl (Teotl) - A people uplifted by the Inti from terran jaguars. Mostly employed as warriorsUrcuchillay (Anu) - A race loosely resembling multicoloured llamas that tend to work as farmers and labourers.Humans (Both Anu and Teotl) - What you didn't think they didn't take some with them when they left earth? Mostly employed as labourers.

You may notice these descriptions leave a few Achilles heels that HA could exploit. :P

AzuJOD wrote:If we're going with Aztec/Inca/Mayan influenced aliens, then maybe we can have them look like jaguar people! Aztecs considered Jaguars the king of the beasts. They could have facial markings that look like the face paint used by those culture, and they could perform ritual sacrifices to fuel their blood magic.

Oooh, there's an idea for their motivation for invading Earth; they want to sacrifice the population to gain a huge amount of power.

As is the sacrificing people for power thing. For some reason, comics universes typically have both magic users and technologically-advanced aliens, but never the twain shall meet. If you're in a setting where magic works, it just makes sense that humans wouldn't be the only ones to use it…

EDIT: Okay, here's what I have so far:…

Some great suggestions, thanks! And I also feel the same way about magic/technology. It is often implied that magic is “just” highly advanced technology, as in Marvel's version of Asgard. What would be important for me is to have a sense of wonder. When you're dealing with aliens, they should be strange and exotic at least :) One of the greatest disappointments for me personally is to see aliens in fiction who are much too similar to humans. Of course you'd want them to be relatable, and science fiction typically is a way to disguise our human concerns, but in many cases, I just feel there's a lack in imagination. If we can get an air of mystery and strangeness from these aliens, that would be great.